LATEST THINKING

How Cloud Computing changes the game in Media and Entertainment

Discover how disruptive forces require today’s established broadcasters to navigate a radical shift in their embedded culture and skillsets.

Overview

Advances in technology and consumer behavior are driving a transformation in the way video content is delivered to consumers. The change involves a migration away from traditional broadcasting models and platforms toward digital distribution over the Internet to a widening array of connected devices. This fundamental shift is triggering major disruptions for broadcasters, calling for the scalability, cost flexibility and agility of cloud computing.

Disruptive forces require today’s established broadcasters not just to adopt a new approach to technology, but also to navigate a radical shift in their embedded culture and skillsets. In doing so, they will equip themselves to compete more effectively with agile over-the-top entrants.

A fundamental shift is triggering major disruptions for broadcasters, calling for the scalability, cost flexibility and agility of cloud computing.

Background

Today, broadcasters are experiencing three major disruptions driving them toward the scale and flexibility of cloud computing:

Consumers now demand more choice than ever, requiring far more computing power and resources than traditional broadcasting. Meanwhile, the proliferation of devices and channels demands more flexible business models and systems to better engage an increasingly fragmented and demanding audience.

There are more time pressures in bringing new offerings to market. Consumers expect rapid evolution and expansion in their choice of content experiences, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their solution development and rollout cycle to keep pace.

There are greater cost pressures on technology sourcing and operations. Factors including rising prices for content rights, intensifying competition from lower-cost agile entrants and strains on legacy technologies are creating a need to reduce up-front technology investments and align costs more closely with usage and revenues.

Broadcasters face a number of challenges, including an increasingly demanding and fractured audience with an appetite for more content on more devices.

Key Findings

The entry of agile, software-based over-the-top (OTT) competitors into the video delivery industry has changed the game for incumbent broadcasters. It is imperative that they respond and keep pace with this change, or risk getting left behind.

Cloud solutions enable broadcasters to stay abreast of industry developments and compete with OTT providers by helping them realize four potential benefits:

Faster speed to market closes the gap on the faster service delivery cycle of the OTT entrants

Scalability to handle spikes in workload, including live events, and surges in the popularity of new services

The ability to collect, store and conduct analytics on vast amounts of data, generating insights to drive personalization, service development, customer experience and one-to-one relationships

ANALYSIS

We believe the use of cloud solutions will progress on several fronts in the coming years as they become ever more prevalent in video delivery operating models.

Consumer cloud solutions will continue to advance—Cloud will play an increasingly pivotal role in the delivery of content-rich services to multiple devices, whether funded by ad revenues or subscriptions.

Cloud will increasingly underpin video content delivery, including catch-up services—Broadcasters are making growing use of cloud solutions—including public cloud—to power offerings such as catch-up services, with metadata relayed directly from the cloud when a consumer clicks on a particular date or piece of content.

Cloud will complete the positive business case for “digital end-to-end” tapeless workflow from production to delivery.

Access to video coverage of live events will become ever more democratized, global and social.

Video distribution may cease to be an industry in its own right and become a function across industries.